Intel to Drop Celeron and Pentium Branding From Laptop Parts In 2023
by Ryan Smith on September 16, 2022 9:15 PM EST
While we’re still over a quarter out from the end of 2022, Intel already has its eyes aimed at 2023 and its eventual refresh of its mobile processors. To that end, today the company has announced that they are making some branding changes for the low-end.
Starting in 2023, Intel will be retiring the Pentium and Celeron brands for laptop processors. In its place, Intel will have a singular “Intel Processor” brand for the low end of the market, while the Core branding (with its multiple tiers) will remain in place for the rest of Intel’s mobile product stack.
“Whether for work or play, the importance of the PC has only become more apparent as the torrid pace of technological development continues to shape the world. Intel is committed to driving innovation to benefit users, and our entry-level processor families have been crucial for raising the PC standard across all price points. The new Intel Processor branding will simplify our offerings so users can focus on choosing the right processor for their needs.”
-Josh Newman, Intel vice president and interim general manager of Mobile Client Platforms
Notably, this change only applies to future laptop parts. At this point Intel is not announcing a change for desktop parts or embedded parts. But with that said, I would not be the least bit surprised if these change ultimately came to desktops as well, as mobile is effectively Intel’s leading consumer market segment these days. So technology and names tend to percolate up to the desktop segment, keeping the two in sync.
Intel’s current generation Pentium and Celeron offerings are both based on Alder Lake-U processors with a single performance core and four (one block of) efficiency cores. The only differences between these SKUs, besides price, is clockspeeds – specifically, that the Celeron parts lack turbo. So if Intel is going to pursue a similar strategy in future generations, then it’s not outlandish to fold two similar products under a single brand. Though the decision to forgo any kind of specific branding is an unusual one for Intel.
With that said, there’s also been a notable absence of “pure” Atom parts in this segment in this generation. Intel has yet to produce a true entry-level part using its Gracemont Atom cores; so everything below the Alder Lake Pentiums/Celerons has been the last-generation Tremont Atoms. So larger changes may be afoot for Intel’s cheapest laptop product segment.
Source: Intel
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TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, September 20, 2022 - link
There is money, sites like wccftech, techspot, and techpowerup are all doing fine.Anandtech started dying when Anand left, and the volume and quality of content dwindled. Anandtech started missing reviews, like the new (now old) macbook pro retina that was......just never reviewed, despite being told a review was coming. Same for several different GPU launches. Anandtech has been using that california fire excuse for nearly 2 years now, and apparently in that time they cannot come up with any solution. Gamers nexus is smaller then anandtech yet not only manages similarly in depth reviews that people want to see but also delves into other subjects and runs a fairly large merch store.
Well, if you cant provide the reviews your audience wants and go weeks without an interesting article, then surprise surprise your people leave for other pastures. Anandtech largely did this to themselves.
The Von Matrices - Saturday, September 17, 2022 - link
I can just imagine the tech support conversations:*call begins*
Tech Support "Hi. Thank you for contacting Giant Software Company tech support. How can we help?"
Customer: "I'm having trouble running your new piece of software on my laptop. It's very slow."
Tech Support: "What CPU do you have in your laptop"
Customer: "My laptop has an Intel CPU"
Tech Support: "Ok, but what is the model name, is it a Core i3, a Celeron, a Pentium"
Customer: "No, it's an Intel CPU"
Tech Support: "But what model is it? You need to tell me the model of CPU so I can check if it meets our recommended system requirements."
Customer: "It's an Intel CPU - it says it on the sticker near the keyboard"
Tech Support: "Sir, I can't help you if you can't tell me the model of CPU in the laptop. I think your laptop may just be old and slow and that is why our software is slow"
Customer: "My laptop can't be old and slow. I went to the store to buy a new laptop, but every one I could afford also had the same Intel CPU sticker just like mine so there was no reason to buy a new one"
Tech Support: "Sir, I can't help you"
*ends call*
sheh - Saturday, September 17, 2022 - link
What's "i3"? Is it i3-560 or i3-12300?You need model numbers anyway. These will still exist.
shabby - Saturday, September 17, 2022 - link
But average joes don't know those numbers, they just know i3, i7 and that's it.sheh - Sunday, September 18, 2022 - link
The point is, "i3" already doesn't tell you much.jamesindevon - Saturday, September 17, 2022 - link
So "Intel Processor" now means "slow". God job, Intel!linuxgeex - Saturday, September 17, 2022 - link
If we're being honest, Celeron and Pentium have meant "Slow" for 7 years while Intel has watered them down with Atoms that ran around 1/2 to 1/3 the speed of an equivalently clocked "Core".But hey, Intel muddied the trade with "Core" so why not muddy it further with a "Processor" trademark? I hope the tech trade publications finally stand up to Üntel and tell them where to stick those trademarks, refuse to use them in publications other than to ridicule such idiotic marketing decisions.
nandnandnand - Saturday, September 17, 2022 - link
The CORE Empire are one of the two factions in Total Annihilation, comprising purely of mechanical units that have undergone the patterning process; they are the sworn enemy of the ARM rebellion and seek their destruction, simply disregarding them as 'vermin who must be exterminated'.shabby - Saturday, September 17, 2022 - link
I don't know this might backfire, if the lowest end processor is junk we can all say "intel processors are garbage" and people might think it means every intel cpu is garbage lolnandnandnand - Saturday, September 17, 2022 - link
Maybe, but I doubt it. At that level of tech competency you are probably a babushka and you don't even know what's in the computer box. Also, the lowest end CPUs are about good enough to run anything that isn't a modern game. 4-5 cores minimum, and big generational performance gains have been made on the Atom cores.So I guess we will really see model names like Intel Processor 9505? Maybe Intel P9505?